, 1887-11-24

friendship. They would find in him one
who n t only respected the religious con-
victions of others, but their conscientious
prejudices also. While here as Catholic
bishop of Cheyenne he would ever ignore
politics. both national and local. but he
would always be found, quietly but ear
nestly, on the side of genuine progress.
History showed that the church had al
ways upheld every form of legitimate
government, and they all knew that
this was the only government on the face
of the earth which had never
prosecuted persons for conscience sake.
His chief work would be to labor for the
spiritual welfare of Cheyenne, but in do
ing so it would be his aim to labor for
progress and advancement in everything
that is good. 1t was his motto, like S..
Pauls, to be contented wherever he was
placed. He now looked upon Cheyenne
as his home and hoped their intercourse
would cement a lasting friendship. In
closing, he paid a glowing tribute to the
the labors of Bishop O'Conner, of Oma-
ha, in his capacity of bishop of Nebraska
and Wyoming.
BISHOP o'CoNNER.
On being introduced, Bishop O'Conner
said he was glad to take part in the In
stallation of the new bishop. He had
come to stay and he hoped his stay would
be a long one. By this he implied the
wish that Cheyenne would be the metrop-
oils of a great territory and that no neigh
boring diocese ofgreater rretentions would
take a fancy to Bishop Burke. He hoped
he would build up a church here worthy
of the territory and of which the territory
would be worthy.
1t was only after considerable hesitation
that he had applied for the appointment
of u new bishop. He appreciated the
fact that there were not many Catholics in
territory and, with few exceptions, none
of them were rich. Along the line of the
Union Pacific were halt a dozen churches.
while there were two small missions north
of it. The question was how to find the
revenue necessary to sustain a new diocese.
On the other hand the territory was too
vast to be successfully managed from
either Omaha or Lincoln. There was
every reason to believe that there would
be a great accession-to the Catholic popu-
lation. Railroads are rapidly coming this
way and these have already begun the
work of developing the extensive mining
interests and even making available the
agricultural THIS development
will naturally bring about the building OF
mining centers and with it will come a
great accession of population, a proportion
Of whom will be Catholics. II was these
considerations that caused him
to lay the matter before the bishops of
the province for their action. These
ecclesiastlcs were SO well satisfied with the
prospects that they concluded to make
Wyoming, not a vicariate apostolic, as he
at first contemplated, but a bistoprlc.
The universal feeling was that their choice
was a happy one. Three names were sent
to Rome; that of DR.. Burke headed the
list and he was the choice of the pope.
Among those who know him Bishop
Burke is respected not only for his schol-
arship, but for what are of vastly more
importance-his priestly virtues. Bishop
O'Conner closed by stating that he hadn t
the slightest doubt that they were all
ready to cooperate freely and generously
with the new bishop in the work which
he has just undertaken.
At the conclusion of these remarks
Bishop Burke having expressed a wish to
personally meet each OF those present, In
reductions rapidly folloSed, many of
those present being among the best known
reople in the city regardless OF creeds.
With this informal social ceremony the
meeting was closed.